The world's largest ice reservoir
The white ice sheet covers more than 93% of the area of Antarctica, the average thickness of the ice is about 1700 meters, the thickest place up to 4200 meters, the total ice reserves for 24.5 million cubic kilometers of huge, accounting for 70% of the world's freshwater resources. For the world's largest ice reservoir. The center of the ice cap is at an altitude of 4200 meters. Influenced by the great pressure of the ice cap itself and the topography, the huge body of ice slides from the high part of the continent to the edge and becomes an iceberg, drifting on the ocean.
Antarctica has become a huge "ice bank" mainly because of its high latitude and the fact that a large part of it is located within the Antarctic Circle. Antarctica has a continental climate, and it is cold all year round, with snowflakes drifting every day, replenishing the earth with ice sources. Although there are several months of daylight in the summer, the sun is only hovering on the horizon, the sun's rays are oblique, and the energy obtained is minimal; in the winter, the sun is hidden below the horizon with the onset of long dark nights.
The terrain of Antarctica
Antarctica's terrain is relatively precipitous and is one of the highest of all the continents, reaching an altitude of 2,350 meters and a thickness of 2,000 meters. Antarctica is a silver world, 95% of its area is covered by ice, and there is ice everywhere and in large volumes. It is because of this special environment that Antarctica is called the world's largest ice bank.
The ice in Antarctica can now have what looks like long tongues, slowly reaching out into the ocean. Smaller pieces of ice come together to form ice sheets and can also form ice barriers. There are more than a dozen ice barriers here, and the most famous is the Ross Ice Barrier. The overall length of the Ross Ice Barrier can reach 900 kilometers, which is 50 meters higher than the sea level. The area has reached 540,000 kilometers.
Antarctica's resources
Although Antarctica is relatively cold, but also has a lot of resources, if the ice here transported to the desert, then can solve the problem of lack of water in the desert, so there are many experts have been studying want to use the Antarctic water, where there are many minerals can reach more than two hundred kinds.
It contains mainly the more common coal, natural gas, uranium, manganese, nickel, chromium, tin, gold, aluminum, graphite, diamond, etc. It is also home to many creatures such as penguins, whales, sea lions, walruses, seals, etc. It is a natural cold storage area and a fresh water reservoir.
